


pretending to drown is immature and wrong

by flying_snowmen



Series: summer by the pool [1]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, I hope, but it's fluff and we can just suspend our disbelief, this is not accurate to real life probably at all, we accepted inaccuracies in homecoming it's all good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 08:43:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11963829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flying_snowmen/pseuds/flying_snowmen
Summary: Peter Parker is the lifeguard at the public pool over the summer, and Michelle might have a bit of a crush.





	pretending to drown is immature and wrong

**Author's Note:**

> so i made a bunch of comments in the tag of one post on tumblr and someone didn't call me out but i took it as such so i wrote this thing. it's inspired by [this post](https://spideychelleforever.tumblr.com/post/164805952851/michelle-would-never-fake-drowning-even-if-peter). also i realize none of this is accurate to real life, but we can just suspend our disbelief for spideychelle fluff haha.

It’s the summer after sophomore year and Michelle has a problem. And this problem presents itself quite often because Michelle’s designated (and paid, which she’s quite happy about) job for the summer is to babysit her little sister Leia. And Leia loves going to the pool. Which, okay, Michelle’s all for her sister going to the pool and playing Marco Polo and doing dives with her friends. It’s just that Peter Parker happens to work at the pool as the lifeguard. And he’s there nearly every day she goes with Leia. And he’s also almost always shirtless. Hence, Michelle’s problem.

Look, it’s not as if Michelle didn’t know Peter Parker was attractive before the summer. She spent most of sophomore year staring at him from a distance. She watched as he fawned over Liz and as he started to flake more and more and saw the sudden change after Liz left when he started showing up as a teammate and classmate. (What? They did projects together. She had a vested interest in his dedication to school.)

If you watch a boy all year, eventually you’re going to notice when he has some attractive features. Like when he showers and heads straight to school so his curls are all damp and twisting all over his head. Or when he runs around the gym during PE class and his shorts are tight on his ass. Or when Ned makes a joke at lunch or during practice and Peter’s whole face lights up and his features scrunch together as the pure joy takes over all his features. 

So, Michelle knows Peter Parker is attractive and then she has to see him every day at the pool where he’s shirtless and chatting with everyone and impressing parents, kids, and teenagers alike. Because for some reason he’s so…confident as a lifeguard. He slides into the persona effortlessly and everyone loves Peter Parker. Especially Leia.

When Peter first met Leia, he’d come over because he recognized Michelle. He’d asked her how her summer had been and she tried to respond as apathetically as possible. But then he’d turned his attention to Leia and asked for her name and proceeded to flip out when she told him what it was.

“You realize you’re named after my hero, right?” He’d asked, all smiles and bubbly excitement. When Leia looked at him confused, because her parents did _not_ name her after a Star Wars character, Peter just gasped. “You’ve never seen Star Wars?” He looked at Michelle, scandalized. “You’ve never shown her Star Wars?” Michelle wasn’t sure if she should tell him she’s never seen it herself. “Oh my goodness,” he’d chuckled, turning back to Leia. “Well, Leia is the strongest, most selfless person. She’s my hero. So that must mean you’re a hero in your own right.” His warm smile made Michelle’s heart flutter, but then she turned to her sister, who was blushing ferociously and oh _goodness_. Her sister probably has a crush on Peter now.

Which, she does. So that means that Michelle has to go to the pool almost every other day so Leia can talk to her new _boyfriend_. At least that’s what their mother had teased. (But, better Leia being teased than Michelle. If her mother found out about Michelle’s small crush on Peter, that would be the end. She’d never hear the end of it.)

So that’s how Michelle ends up at the public pool on a Saturday afternoon, lounging on a pool chair with a book because her sister, try as she might, will not get her to get into the pool. And she’s focusing on the book and not looking at Peter when kids throw water at him and soak his hair. And she’s not imagining a world in which she pretends to drown so he’ll give her mouth to mouth because that’s _wrong_ and she’s a _mature adult_. She knows better. Instead, she focuses on her book. But then Peter walks over to her and plops down on the chair next to her. “Hey, MJ! Whatcha reading?”

She turns to look at the boy squinting at her with a smile. “ _Their Eyes Were Watching God_.” She says, succinct so hopefully he won’t stay so close to her. But she should know better by now.

“Oh, that’s cool. May’s a big fan. Should I read it?” And why does he have to keep talking to her and making her heart flutter when he’s literally doing the bare minimum?

“Yeah. Zora Neale Hurston is a literary genius.” She scoffs. “You’d be so lucky.” But then a kid calls him over to the edge of the pool and Leia comes back, pulling on Michelle’s arm and telling her she has to do a dive off the pool because someone bet her that Michelle wouldn’t and she really doesn’t want to lose the only ten dollars she has to her name.

So Peter smiles at her and salutes, before wishing her good luck on her dive and jogging over to the three kids jumping up and down in the pool. And maybe it’s the fact that Peter nearly dared her to do the dive by wishing her good luck. (Realistically, she knows this isn’t the case. But her heart still flares when she thinks about his husky, “good luck.”)

Michelle walks over to the dive board, slightly terrified because athletic grace has never been her forte. But she’s seen plenty of kids half her age and younger do effortless dives from the highest board, so really, how hard can it be?

Very hard. Abort mission. This is very terrifying and Michelle regrets every decision she’s made in her life that has somehow led to her standing on the highest diving board, staring down into the pool. It looks so much higher from this angle and there are lots of kids in the pool and there’s this small area where she’s supposed to jump but she honestly doesn’t think she’ll make it. She’s a lot taller than the kids who usually do this jump, what if she hits her head on the bottom of the pool because her body is too long? There are so many things that could go wrong up here she should really just…take the ladder down the stairs.

But then Peter is yelling at her from the bottom and laughing and telling her to jump because it’ll be fun. And some of the kids pull him into the pool and he laughs loudly and pushes himself out of the pool again. And, oh dear. She gets distracted looking at his arms when he pushes himself out of the pool and looking at his hair as he tries shakes off all the water that’s dripping all over his entire body.

And she just…slips. She’s perhaps angling to get a better look but then her foot catches on the edge and it’s slippery because of all the damn kids that have rushed up here, soaking from their last dive. And she’s falling to the pool and she shrieks and then she hits the water and she feels disoriented and a little bit in a daze and she’s still extremely terrified even though she realistically knows she’s okay. She hears her little sister scream and then hears someone dive into the water next to her before arms wrap around her and pull her back up to the surface.

And her back is cold and her neck is stiff and she’s lying on hard concrete and her heart is racing. And then she feels someone pushing down on her chest a few times and it’s kind of hard and ouch. She registers that it’s Peter. Because he’s the lifeguard on duty and who was closest. Which is how she knows that when she feels lips on hers, they are Peter Parker’s and he’s blowing air into her mouth and oh goodness _Peter Parker’s_ lips are on hers.

She might freak out a bit. Because this was literally a dream she’d had two weeks ago and now it’s reality. But he’s pumping his hands down on her chest and she’s starting to feel less out of it. She’s about to push him away and tell him everything is fine. But then he puts his lips on hers again and her eyes shoot open and she’s frozen for a second and then she’s gasping and he’s pulling back like he’s just been shocked.

She sputters a bit and pushes herself up so she’s leaning on her elbows. She takes a look around and sees everyone has formed a circle around her and Peter. Then Leia is rushing over and hugging Michelle, apologizing for asking her to jump off the highest diving board. The crowd disperses and Peter helps her up. Leia’s still got her body wrapped around MJ when Peter speaks, rubbing the back of his neck all the while. “Jesus, MJ, if I’d known you were going to nearly drown I never would have told you to jump. 

MJ laughs a bit. She’s still a bit shaken up and doesn’t totally feel normal. “Yeah, well, no one is more disappointed than me.” Another chuckle. “Wasn’t exactly how I pictured our first kiss going.”

And, oh _god_. Peter looks confused for a hot second before a slow smile takes over his face. He looks entirely too smug for his own good. “Oh, so you’ve pictured our first kiss before?”

MJ hopes her cheeks aren’t as red as they feel. “Did I say _our_ first kiss? I meant _my_ first kiss.”

And then Leia. Godforsaken Leia who’s already done enough to terrorize MJ for the day. She pipes up, slightly curious and a little maniacal. “But I thought your first kiss was with Jenna?” Michelle looks down at her sister, betrayed.

But then Peter, oh so suddenly arrogant Peter, speaks. “Don’t worry, MJ. I’m sure our second will be much better.”

She raises her fist in the air and growls, but he just laughs and saunters off. And she hates him. But she also doesn’t. “He likes you, ya know?” Michelle looks down at her sister, still reeling from her traitorous input in the conversation. “He told me last week about it. Asked me how he should ask you out.” She laughs at MJ’s stunned face. “I told him he should tell you that you look pretty. Didn’t think he was going to save your life.”

“Come on, you little twerp.” MJ grabs her sister’s hand and guides her to their chairs so they can grab their stuff. “We’re going home now.” Leia pouts but follows all the same. She knows she’s on thin ice right now.

But when MJ puts the car in park at their house and checks her phone, she can’t be too mad at Leia.

_Parker: soooo, you maybe want to see a movie before that second kiss??_

_MJ: you’d be so lucky_


End file.
